Mother's Ghost
by QuayJaquelinXeomaraZendaya
Summary: Colt Jaiketski was not unfamiliar with hunting ghosts, but this hunt is different from the others. The ghost, the place, oh and that Sally Jackson was the one who asked for her help. It was okay though, Colt could do ghost hunts in her sleep. She could totally do this without Percy finding out.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**_ _Hi! So I finally decided on doing a short sequel to my first story Convention Chaos. This is supposed to take place shortly after; I left exact timeline to your interpretation_ _I think this will probably be around the same length as CC, but not to fear! I have many more ideas for these two. Please read and enjoy!_

Long brown hair whipped like a vicious halo around Colt's head as she hummed along to the radio. She loved rolling the windows down on her Camaro and letting her hair become a tangled monstrosity. It's not like there was anyone there to tease her on her life choices while driving.

The reminder had her glancing to her right. Yep, nobody was there. Colt half expected Percy to vault through the open window on the passenger's side while she was driving, especially on a long, empty road like this one. Besides, it isn't like he hasn't landed on the roof of her car in the middle of the city before.

"Idjit."

She pulled over to the side of the road. There was no one else on it now, but it never hurt to be careful.

"Idjit," her phone insisted as it vibrated in her bag.

Colt's lips curved into a smile. If Bobby ever found out she recorded him to set as her ringtone for unknown callers, he'd probably have a fit—a funny fit, but an angry fit nonetheless.

"Id-"

She cut Bobby off (the only time it ever happened), answering with a chirpy, "Hello." Police hardly ever suspected criminals to be cheery she found.

"Is this Colt Jaiketski?" A woman's voice floated quietly through the speaker. Colt started logging facts about the woman, trying to place her, since she seemed to know Colt. The woman was definitely older than her, probably somewhere between Bobby and Dean's age. She was a native New Yorker and, by the tone, probably a mother. No combination of any of those theories rang a bell in her mind.

Ah, well, best just to be direct. "May I ask who is calling?" Colt leaked a bit of her southern accent into the question. She usually tried not to let her roots show, easier to blend in and be forgettable when conning to not have any type of accent, but if this woman knew who she was, who cared?

"I'm Sally Jackson, Percy's mother."

Colt froze.

Why was she calling? They had never met, never spoken. How did she get Colt's number? Did something happen to Percy? Why wasn't _he_ calling her? Did the monsters finally overwhelm him? She had told him not to travel alone! Sure, she traveled alone, but she didn't have some special scent that attracted monsters to her. Or at least, she hoped she didn't.

Suddenly, the open windows weren't enough. She had to get out. She threw open her door, not bothering to see if there was traffic. She swept around the car and shoved herself onto the trunk. It was too claustrophobic in the car. The car that'd always been safe, always kept her safe, just like Percy.

That was rather counterproductive, Colt decided, forcing herself to take a deep breath and smile. Mrs. Jackson was still waiting for a response.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Jackson?"

There. That was simple. Easy. No one needed to know that she was worried. It might not even be about Percy. If Sally didn't mention him, that was fine. Completely. Percy was a big boy. He didn't need her to hold his hand.

"Please, call me Sally," she insisted, taking a slow, slightly shaky breath. "Percy's told me about the kind of work you do. I believe I may need a person with your skill set."

Colt sat patiently for a few moments, swinging her legs back and forth in a monotonous rhythm. It soon became obvious that Sally was not going to continue, so Colt gently prompted, "Why do you think that?"

"I-I think I may be haunted by a… Well, a ghost of all things." Sally let out a quiet, shaky laugh. "I'm so sorry. I'm not usually like this, but what's been happening is nothing in the realm of Greek or Roman pantheons. I'm afraid it has me a little shook up."

Colt nodded sympathetically. Despite not being able to see the woman, Colt could easily imagine the look on Sally's face. She'd seen it enough on other people. From what Percy had told her about his mother, not much could shake her, so if Sally Jackson said she was being haunted, then Colt knew that was where she needed to be.

"Where are you?" Colt asked, sliding off the trunk of her car and heading back around to the driver's seat. "What does Percy think?" If there was a threat to his mother, Percy wouldn't be far away from her. Colt relaxed, he probably didn't want monsters to be attracted near his mother. That's why he didn't call her himself.

"I'm at my apartment," Sally replied, hesitating slightly before adding, "As for what Percy thinks, well, I haven't exactly told him yet. He's away at camp, visiting his friends. I didn't want to disrupt his time there, and he'll be home in a couple of days. I thought maybe, if you could, we might finish this up before he gets back."

Colt paused in midst of buckling her seatbelt. "You don't want him to know." The similarities between the two Jackson's were obvious. They never wanted to let the other one know they were hurting. It was both admirable and stupid. However, Colt could respect a mother's wish to protect her son, especially if Percy was actually having fun with his friends. "Alright," she said before Percy's mom felt the need to defend her choice. Colt snapped her seatbelt into place. "Give me your address I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm near New York already."

Rummaging around her car, she produced a paper, noting the address and directions Sally gave her before hanging up, tossing her phone aside, and revving the Camaro's engine.

Checking the road to make sure no one was coming, Colt sharp turned her car completely around in the middle of the road and soared back towards New York.

She could do a ghost hunt in her sleep. Colt could be in the apartment, kill the ghost, and driving away before Percy got home.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ _Hi! I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Thank you, my dear readers. Please, read, relax, and enjoy!_

When Colt arrived at the Jackson's apartment building, it was well into the dark of night. Probably not the best time to show up at someone's house, but at least she was there.

She decided to sneak into the building until she reached the Jackson's apartment. Knocking with a few light raps on the door, Colt sincerely hoped Percy's mom didn't mind the late hour. It was very rare anyone actually called Colt to do a job for them were they lived especially if they had never met before, so she was a little unsure of the proper protocol in this situation.

She knocked on the door a couple more times. It was hard to decide if this would be more or less awkward with Percy there to introduce her. Though, knowing Percy, he would probably forget introductions and look for his mom's cooking (the best food ever, he had informed her many times) instead.

Sally Jackson… was not what she had expected. From Percy's tales (the only thing she had to go off of, researching his family seemed a little too invasive for her taste), Colt assumed Sally would look like some kind and benevolent angelic goddess. Colt didn't have any point of reference for that, but it didn't seem to matter because Sally Jackson was nothing Colt could have ever researched. She was indeed what Percy had described her as, but he missed one key fact: mortality. Sally had kind eyes, a warm stance, and messy hair, its mess came not from being ignored but released after a hard day of work. On the other hand, Colt could see the streaks of gray resting among the brown hair, the subtle signs of wrinkles present on her face that came from just as much worry as joy, and worst of all, the pain resting behind the kindness. Before the young hunter was indeed an angelic warrior of kindness and benevolence, but she was still mortal, still human, and maybe, Colt thought, graciously nodding to the older woman guiding her into the house, that was why Sally Jackson lived up to all the stories told.

The two women wove quietly through the small apartment. Sally made no move to introduce herself (not that she needed to) or start a conversation, so neither did Colt. Sally led Colt into a bedroom. Even in the twilight it was obviously drenched in hues of blue and very obviously a boy's room. She had worked with enough male hunters to know. Though the clutter and clothes and various things strewn about the room showed that someone stilled lived in this room, there was a feeling of emptiness and a distinct uneasiness that the room was less lived in and more lived with, as if the person lived here and yet at the same time didn't quite _live_ in the room, everything in the room was frozen waiting for the owner to come back again.

"This is Percy's room," Sally told Colt, flicking on the light and shutting the women in the room. "I'm sure he won't mind you in here."

Colt wasn't as certain about that as Sally seemed to be but she didn't argue. "Thank you, Sally." Gingerly, as though she was trespassing and may hit a trip wire at any moment, Colt lowered herself and her bag onto the bed. She looked up to the elder woman. "If it's alright, I'd like to start with interviewing you to get a better idea of the situation to help focus my research."

Sally looked almost startled for a moment. The look quickly disappeared to form a small smile, a joke known only to herself. "I think that's fine. We'll start at breakfast."

"But I-" Colt began to protest, only to quail under a very motherly look. It was like Ellen had manifested in this woman, all scolding and warning forced into one beamed gaze at its target. Bull's eye.

"You've been driving since I called haven't you?" She didn't wait for an answer. "You need to sleep. Rest up, anything else can wait."

Among Percy's stories of his mom came the stories that when his mother decided something, you did not change her mind. Colt nodded, accepting defeat with as much dignity as she could. "In the morning, no later."

Sally smiled, slipping out the door with a quiet "Sleep well, Colt."

Despite the kind wish, sleep did not come easily to Colt. She faded in and out of consciousness. The clock glaring times in a seemingly random order to her blurred sight. She usually didn't have trouble sleeping in unknown places; it was, after all, what she did for her job, nor was she a stranger to sleeping when danger lurks and might possibly take a bite out of her. But this wasn't some motel room or some new hunt; yes, others were just a phone call away, and yet it didn't seem right, like this was a sacred place. She supposed in a sense it was sacred—this was Percy's room, the one normal and comforting place in a world of strange and disaster, and entering it, especially without him, seemed wrong.

The next time Colt surfaced to the world of the living, it was not to the accusing stare of the clock, but the curious face of a young man—a teenager, maybe fifteen at most. His hair may have been blonde in his life, but death had dulled it to the color of dirt. His shirt she recognized to be a replica of Percy's Camp Half Blood shirt, but instead of bright and cheery, this boy's shirt was torn and had several dark splashes—blood or dirt that could never be wiped clean. Colt's heart ached for this boy; he was so young and his face so open and innocent that it made Colt pause, a finger hovering over the trigger of her gun that she always kept under whatever pillow belonged to her that night.

He mouthed something.

Colt sat up, one hand on her gun, the other inching towards her flashlight snuggled in her bag. "What?" she asked the demigod, he had to be one with that shirt. "I can't hear you."

He mouthed the sentence again, this time reaching out for her. She rolled backwards off the bed, coming to a crouch behind it, gun and flashlight trained on the boy. She was willing to listen, but touching was strictly prohibited until she knew if he was friend or foe.

He repeated himself again, then he disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_ _Hi, everyone! How's it going? Good, I hope. Please read and enjoy chapter 3!_

Colt did not sleep after that. After one quick sweep of the apartment to ensure the boy was gone and not just relocated, she retreated back to the room quickly jotting down a description of the boy and revving up her laptop to begin searching for a name to the face.

Silence echoed through the room, leaking in under the closed door from the hallway. Realistically, she knew that Sally and her husband—Paul, Colt thought his name was—were right across the hall sleeping, but it did nothing to stop her racing mind. She itched with the need to wake Sally up and get the whole story—should've demanded it from her before even considering sleep.

One thing was sure, Sally Jackson was being haunted by a ghost. This was okay though, well, not _okay_ because, you know, _ghost_ , but okay as in she could handle it. She was going to salt the apartment while breakfast was cooked because she wouldn't be able to get into Sally's room that night without waking her up, and as far as she could tell, the ghost was not aggressive.

The problem with trying to find the boy from any type of database was that she knew nothing about him besides male and young. She had no exact age, name, hometown (Percy told her not every demigod that went to Camp was from New York), or whether or not he was even reported missing or dead. Did demigods even do that? How would they explain it? Like hunters did? Who did the explaining?

It would probably be easier to just call Percy and describe the kid to him; Percy probably knew him or could guess parentage and ask someone else. Colt had promised though, and she felt guilt gnawing at her for even thinking of disrupting his good time. She had spent enough time with him to know that it was a rare occurrence for him to sit back and relax.

Getting nowhere, Colt finally shut her laptop and changed into new clothes. She lugged a bag of salt behind her as she entered the kitchen where she heard Sally rummaging around.

"Good morning," Sally greeted with a smile when Colt slipped into the room. She obviously had a better night sleep than the hunter, Colt thought dryly.

"Morning. Mind if I salt the doors and windows?" Colt asked holding up the bag of salt. "The salt lines will prevent ghosts of getting in."

Sally looked at it curiously, but nodded. She was taking this in stride. Although, with a son that's the demigod child of the Greek god Poseidon, a ghost was probably one of the most unimpressive things the woman had ever experienced.

 _I-I think I may be haunted by a… Well, a ghost of all things._ Colt remembered the shakiness of her voice over the phone. Either Sally felt better after a good night of sleep or she had a lot of faith in her son's friend that she had never met before, maybe it was both.

Sally shooed her with a hand when Colt stalled in the kitchen. "Go ahead. Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes."

Making her way carefully around the house, Colt poured careful lines over every window and door. She also did any vents on the floor or wall; Colt didn't know if the ghost could get through that way by first getting in to a different apartment, but it was better to be extra safe, than very sorry.

When she got back to the kitchen, there was a new figure present. The man was probably closer to Bobby's age than Dean's, but he was by no means old. This must be Paul Blofis, Colt realized, though it was odd she hadn't seen him before since the apartment wasn't that large to begin with.

He wasn't surprised to see her, not that she expected Sally to not tell him about the girl staying in their apartment. She wasn't quite sure if he knew about the ghost though or what she did, so she decided to follow Sally's cues. It was frustrating to be this unprepared. Colt definitely was regretting not enforcing the need to discuss the case before she even considered going to bed.

"Colt, this is my husband Paul," Sally introduced, waving a spatula between the two named people "He's an English teacher at Goode." She vaguely remembered the name of the school from one of Percy's many stories.

She nodded in greeting at the man, taking the seat Sally had gestured to. He responded in kind, seeming just as lost about this as she was. It didn't seem to be an issue for Sally though, because she simply chattered away in that happy, carefree way of someone having a great day with great people and everything was just great. It wasn't an attempt to distract or fill the silence though. Sally seemed to genuinely want to share her stories with Colt. Percy and his mother were strikingly similar when they told stories of things they enjoyed (usually about each other). Their eyes lit up and neither could quite hide the blinding smile. Colt bet that if Sally wasn't keeping her hands busy with cooking, eating, and then cleaning breakfast, she would have been gesturing with practically wind milling arms as she wove each new tale about something from Percy's childhood.

Colt had offered to help clean the dishes after Paul left for work, but Sally waved her off, telling her to grab whatever she needed for the impending conversation about ghost boy. After debating a moment in Percy's room, she ended up just grabbing her whole bag. Slinging it over one shoulder, Colt made her way into the living room, sitting on the edge at the opposite end of the sofa from Sally.

She opened her journal, flipping past old notes, the description of the ghost boy and her encounter, some scribbled down names with numbers attached, to a blank page. She smoothed it out, clicking her lucky purple ink pen, and turned to Sally.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**_ _Hi! I don't mean to be one of those authors who beg for reviews, but I just want to check my reader's pulse. You guys liking the story so far? Anyway, I hope you read and enjoy!_

Before they could begin, however, the door banged open. A familiar male voice called out, "Mom? I'm home, and I brought Thalia and Annabeth."

The two women shared a look. Colt wondered if she should hide, then immediately ditched that thought. She wasn't doing anything wrong, and, yeah, it may be awkward, but she promised to help Sally, so that was what she was going to do.

The three demigods froze in the entryway to the living room. It was more awkward than Colt had assumed, but she tried to conjure up her "Dean charm" as she liked to call it and try to play it cool.

"Hey, Percy." Colt tossed a wave at the bewildered son of Poseidon. "Sorry for popping in unexpectedly. I was in the area, thought I'd drop by and see if you were 'round."

"I invited her to stay overnight," Sally continued, getting up to greet each of the slowly defrosting demigods with a hug.

"Cool," Percy said with a smile, getting over his shock fast. He plopped onto the middle seat of the couch, jostling Colt. He gestured at the two girls he came in with. "Colt, meet Annabeth and Thalia. I told you about them, right?"

The hunter nodded, struggling to keep her Dean charm up and full force.

"Thalia, Annabeth," Percy introduced, sweeping an arm towards Colt as she quietly tucked her now shut notebook under her arms. "This is Colt." The hunter didn't appreciate the way the two were sizing her up. Colt tried not to feel threatened or insulted because she knew she'd probably do the same in their position.

Eventually, after Sally had long left the room to get them drinks and snacks, the two girls removed themselves from the doorway to curl up in the nearby armchairs. The four teens remained in a sort of silence that wasn't awkward or frosty, but unknown. Percy seemed unconcerned at the mixture of demigods and hunters or that Colt knew his address and showed up there unannounced. Instead, he seemed intent on snatching her notebook, which she clutched to her chest, alternating between kicking and slapping him whenever he seemed to get a good grip on it. She didn't know why he wanted it, but she wasn't going to give it up without a fight.

Percy stole the knife from her boot. She immediately dropped the notebook to retrieve it, while he used the distraction to successfully grab the notebook out of her lap. She stuck the knife back in her boot, pouting at the demigod next to her.

 _Well played, Percy Jackson. Well played._

He began flipping through the pages, stopping every so often to skim the page. There seemed to be no order or theme to his search. Percy rifled through page after page until he reached the description she had written on the ghost boy's interaction. Her breath caught. There was no way she could play it off on some hunt. She had literally written Sally and ghost and a sketch of the Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and the boy's face _on the same page._

 _Sorry, Sally._ Colt couldn't lie about this. If he asked her about the hunt, she'd tell him. It wasn't fair to him. They were partners. Well, sometimes. When they were together, they were partners, and partners don't lie to each other. Plus, Percy would never forgive her if she lied to him after he clearly saw her notes on a hunt involving his mother. She couldn't stand to even think about the betrayed look he would give her. She had seen it turned on others, but never on her.

He looked at the page for a while. So long, that Annabeth and Thalia began to turn their attention to the unmoving demigod. Colt could see their minds working in sync with no more than a couple glances at each other—weighing the pros and cons of breaking whatever trance Percy was in or just to go look over his shoulder at the apparently captivating page.

Colt could feel the heat of their gazes on her, but she refused to look away from Percy's bent head. The gray streak in his hair flowed so seamlessly with the black, it was hard to believe it was an addition to his head instead of something he had been born with.

Steadily, Percy lifted is head, holding Colt's gaze. She refused to be the first to look away. His eyes were stormy. Not mad, not sad, just… stormy and unreadable. It made Colt nervous, like judgement was imminent, but she had no idea what the outcome would be.

Percy shut the notebook quietly, slipping it into her bag and zipping it shut. He continued watching her as she watched him. Colt felt the sudden urge to confess everything. She clamped that unwanted emotion down fast. It was one thing to tell Percy about the hunt, but the other two? No. Sally didn't want this getting out, so Colt wasn't going to tell more than she had to.

Percy finally turned his gaze away from hers to talk to Thalia and Annabeth about so shenanigans pulled by some campers at one of the camps. The air rushed out of her in one swift gust. She took another breath in, gulping down air like she had survived a drowning.

Sally entered the room, bearing drinks and snacks for the hungry teens. Sally sat down on Percy's other side, easily becoming absorbed into the conversation with the three demigods. Colt thought it odd that all the tension from the notebook page was apparently forgotten, but then Percy rested a hand on her ankle beside him, giving it a light squeeze as he slid her bag farther under the coffee table with the nudge of a foot.

To keep her from running off, Colt realized. His legs were propped up on the table now. The only obstacle between her and her bag. She would have no way to slip away quietly. The page wasn't forgotten, just set aside.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**_ _Hey. Please enjoy chapter 5!_

Colt didn't speak. She wasn't bored by any means. No, she was fine listening and watching the four interact. It was just that she couldn't help but feel both like an intruder and a prisoner. Colt shouldn't have been there, yet she couldn't leave without her bag, which was covertly being held hostage by a certain demigod.

It also didn't help that she was coiled up just waiting for some comment or jab from Percy about what was going on, what he had read. The demigod, for his part, continued his oh-so causal lounging on the couch. He never moved, carefully poised in casual elegance. A brick wall covered in vines and flowers was still a brick wall, as Gaige always liked to tell her. Where he heard that, she had no idea, but it seemed to be his piece of yoda-wisdom when he didn't know what else to say.

As the time passed, it was hard to decide if she should continue the charade of just passing by, driving off then returning to work in the shadows, or just weather it out, waiting until they all left to finish the hunt. On one hand, they probably wouldn't stay longer than a day, in fear of monsters showing up. On the other hand, there's nothing to say they wouldn't visit again tomorrow and the next day. Despite the distraction, there was still a ghost hopping about around the apartment.

The salt line. Crap, she really hoped Percy didn't disturb it. She had double checked it after Paul left, but she had completely forgotten to check it after the demigods came in all the excitement.

As casually as she could, she leaned into Percy's side. Colt stretched her neck up to whisper in his ear, "I put a salt line up. Did you break it?"

Percy shook his head, once and short, swinging an arm around Colt, drawing her closer to his body. She relaxed into his side. He didn't appear to be mad at her, at least, and was conscious enough to not break the salt line. She had trained him well in identifying and not disturbing them, she thought proudly.

Eventually (and by "eventually" she meant after lunch going towards dinner), Thalia left to join back up with her hunt. Annabeth followed suit, apparently only taking a short break from one of many architectural construction projects she was managing. Percy, forever being the gentlemen, offered to take them back to wherever a lieutenant of Artemis and the Architect of Olympus had to go.

It was time to make her escape. She knew Sally could tell her plan, based on the looks she was giving Colt, flicking every so often to her bag. Colt had texted the woman that she would work it from the outside, so that Percy's mom wouldn't think the hunter was just abandoning her. But, of course, Percy had to put a stop to that plan. He took her bag.

Took. Her. Bag.

Like, slung it over his shoulder so casual you'd have thought it he owned it, took her bag.

Dear God, she really did turn him into a criminal.

Nobody touched that bag besides her, and he knew it. The jaunty grin he threw to her over his shoulder as it mockingly swung by his side proved he knew he hit a nerve, but didn't really care at the moment. She was so going to guilt him later. It was a stupid and dangerous move. Obviously she had more weapons in the car, but her notebook, wallet, ID (well, the real one at least), favorite weapons and the like were in that bag and she wouldn't leave without them.

Objectively, it was a smart tactical move. Emotionally, she was going to take that smirk off his face. The hard way.

She told Sally she'd be right back, quickly slipping down to the parking lot to grab a few replacement tools to tide her over until he got back. Percy had better hurry. The longer she went without her bag, the harder she was going to punch him.

Colt stewed, sitting on her trunk. Her bag of assorted lethal objects for emergencies (Colt preferred to call it her aloe kit) slumped beside her. She was reluctant to head back up the stairs without her bag. It was silly, really, to get attached to something so much. Every hunter knew not to get attached to things, especially easily replaceable things. Besides, it wasn't like Percy stole it. Never mind, he did steal it. But it wasn't as though he wasn't going to give it back. She was over reacting for nothing really.

She straightened up, roughly rubbing away any possible wetness from her eyes. Yes, she had owned those things for a long time. Yes, he took them without asking. Yes, she understood his reasons. Yes, she was going to get them back. So, it was time to stop moping and start moving. She had a ghost to figure out.

She slouched up the stairs, listening carefully outside the door for any sign Percy had already returned. Nothing.

Colt slipped back into the apartment, slinking back over to the couch she had been held prisoner in for the majority of the day.

"We're going to have dinner first," Sally called, after spotting the girl on the couch. "Hope that's okay."

"Yeah," Colt called, feeling as though she wasn't actually here for a case. If she hadn't seen the ghost herself, she'd have guessed she had been conned into family day with the Jackson family.

Speaking of the family, Paul chose that moment to enter the home, giving the hunter a nod and smile of acknowledgment before heading to his wife in the kitchen. Colt returned the gesture, picking through her duffle for her other notebook and green ink pen. Snatching them from the bottom, she shuffled around in her seat and opened to a new page.

It was blanker than the ghost's face. The poor kid. Colt couldn't get over that he was a demigod, maybe a little younger than Percy. That could've been Percy. In another time, another place, Percy might've been something she hunted and killed.

She shook her head. There was no time for such morbid thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:**_ _Hi. Here's Chapter 6. This story will probably only have one or two chapters left, just to let you know. Please read and enjoy._

As Sally said, they did have dinner first. Percy returned with her bag in tow, which she promptly tore from his grasp, cuddling it in her lap as she glared at the demigod.

He shrugged with a slightly apologetic look before pulling the girl off the couch and dragging Colt into the kitchen for dinner.

She felt a constant urge to reach down and grab her bag, but she had left both of them by the couch. Apparently the Jackson family had a strict set of rules for weapons. Why they would need a special weapon rulebook, Colt guessed, would have to be from certain demigods practicing. She gave the black-haired boy a sidelong glance. He continued stuffing his face as he usually did when eating a meal. It was something he and Dean had in common to her amusement.

Percy and his mom kept up a constant stream of conversation as dinner processed. Paul, once again sitting across from Colt, stayed relatively quiet, only contributing a couple of comments and laughs here and there. It was…surprisingly nice. Colt only wished that she was here just for a visit and not to sort out the whole ghost situation.

Eventually though, dinner was over and it was time for Colt to actually get some work done. She had already wasted the entire day and while the ghost wasn't going anywhere, the ghost _was not going anywhere_. It was both a problem and a gift. Poltergeists rarely traveled long distances, tending to stay attached to one location, while many other creatures were free to roam around and create havoc.

Sally couldn't give Colt any information that she didn't already know, however. The elder woman merely recited the boys features that Colt had already noted down in her now reclaimed notebook, a similar occurrence of attempted conversation through garbled speak, and that the sightings didn't begin until about a month ago and have picked up frequency since then. There was only one event were the ghost ever went past talking and it was to push a glass off a table (Colt felt safe to assume it was to draw attention to itself since Sally said she couldn't see the boy at all).

Although Sally had seen the ghost boy several times, Paul had never seen any sign nor felt any of the usual signs or presence of a ghost. Colt noted this down quickly, using Percy's upper arm as a table. The ghost appeared to be specifically targeting Sally. It broke its pattern with Colt, however. So the question was, why? The only thing Colt could think of as a connection between her and Sally was Percy Jackson. If this was the case though, he should have also attempted communicating with Paul.

Percy didn't know of any major demigod activities or quests that happened a month ago that could have possibly attributed to this.

"Recent wars?" Colt questioned as Percy went around the room, turning lights on. The night was passing far too quickly. Sally and Paul had already retired to their room for the night.

"No, thankfully," he told her, flopping back onto the couch. He sat mirroring the hunter with his knees drawn up so he could rest his arms on them. Their feet tangled together on the middle cushion. "There isn't going to be another body, right?"

"I don't think so," she told him truthfully. "The more I think about this, the more I think the soul isn't actually attached to anything. It seems to me that he may be a restless spirit with unfinished business."

"So if he finishes his business, he will go to the underworld?" Percy asked.

"He'll be at rest," Colt corrected because she couldn't guarantee the underworld was where the boy would end up. "I just wish we knew what his unfinished business was, so we could help him."

"What about the message?" Percy suggested. "You said he was trying to say something right? Maybe whatever he's got to say will explain what his unfinished business is."

"But we can't hear him," Colt said. She tipped her head back over the arm, feeling the weight of her hair lightly dust the floor. "It's not even that he's speaking another language or something. He just isn't speaking loud enough."

"Get him a microphone." Percy told her, gently nudging her leg.

"Don't be sarcastic with me, Mister 'I Take People's Prized Bags Without Permission' Jackson."

"Wow. You've finally succeeded in finding a longer and more complicated first name than my actual one."

"Perseus isn't that long or complicated," Colt informed him. "At least you were named after a hero with a happy ending instead of a kind of gun."

"Or a baby horse," the demigod added cheerfully.

Colt flicked her pen at him. He caught it with ease. "This isn't helping me figure out a way to solve this."

"Well," Percy said. "Why don't you get one of those Squeegee board games and do that with him."

"You mean Weegee Board," Colt told him, "and, technically, it's called an Ouija Board. That won't help us if he's a demigod—and I'm pretty sure he is—I don't think he magically recovers from dyslexia if he's dead."

"But what an inventive cure."

"If you're not going to be helpful, then go to bed." She told him sternly. Percy raised his hands, palms face out, in a surrendering pose. Colt sighed. "Let's say the ghost _can_ actually speak vocally and we just can't hear him. We would need something that could match the ghost's frequency to hear his broadcast, so to speak."

"Like the EMF is on ghost frequency," Percy added.

Colt nodded. "But the EMF reader isn't an amplifier of sound. It would need to be something like a cell phone-"

"Which demigods don't use, so he wouldn't go near it," Percy said, gesturing for her to continue.

"Or a radio," she finished.

"Have you ever used a radio to talk with ghosts?" Percy asked curiously.

"Nope," Colt replied, shoving herself off the sofa to retrieve the radio she saw in the kitchen. "But there's a first time for everything."


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N:**_ _Hello, everyone. Hope you enjoy chapter 7. I think there will only be one chapter after this._

Colt set the radio up on the coffee table. She had her salt gun and iron crowbar on either side of her, ready for action.

Percy sat at attention on the other side of her crowbar. He held himself stiffly. It was worrying that he was so tense and bordering on upset to the point she considered sending him to his room like a scolded child because he was making her tense just looking at him. But then she realized, he had never seen the ghost before. In fact, he hadn't even known about the ghost until this morning. A ghost that had been harassing his mom (rather politely compared to other ghosts Colt had met) for nearly a month.

Yeah, she'd have been tense too.

That was no excuse for butchering this hunt though. Good hunters knew to detach themselves from these family situations or to get another hunter they trusted to handle it.

But Percy wasn't a hunter he was a warrior. Sometimes Colt forgot that the only monsters Percy had ever really fought before meeting her were the Greek and Roman ones from mythology (that were not actually myths, but she couldn't think of any other way to define them). She began feeling that little tendril of guilt in her stomach again about dragging him into this life with her, but she quickly clamped that down. She was in the middle of a hunt. She could dwell on it later.

Colt fiddled with the tuning dial. The volume was cranked up as far as they could make it. "What do you think is the preferred radio station of ghosts?" she asked him.

Percy shrugged. "Probably something with Boo-tiful music." He sent her a lopsided grin as she groaned at the horrible joke.

"That joke died long ago" she informed him. "No more jokes or puns or you will be sent to your room."

"Like you didn't just make a joke too." Percy pouted. "That's not fair."

"My hunt, my rules."

"My house," Percy argued, "my rules."

"Do you want to go to your room, young man?"

"Are you my mummy?"

"Percy."

"Fine," he huffed. "I'm sorry."

"Good." She smiled at him before turning her focus to spinning the dial to various stations listening for any voice that could possibly be that ghost boy's.

"P-Percy…Jack..son," a voice croaked. Colt's hand froze. She swiftly removed her hand from the dial, so she didn't risk the chance of bumping into it and losing the voice altogether.

"Hello?" the demigod beside her greeted, staring at the radio.

"Percy… Jackson," the voice repeated.

"Yes," Percy confirmed. "That's me."

"Ask him who he is and if he can show himself," Colt ordered Percy quietly.

"Who are you?" Percy asked. "What's your name?"

"Danny. Percy Jackson." The voice became clearer the longer they spoke.

"Where are you? Can you show yourself?"

"Percy Jackson."

The boy appeared on the other side of the table. Despite all her training, Colt jumped just as much as the demigod beside her, hands gripping the salt gun to her left.

"Ask him why he's here," Colt said to the demigod as she got her heart's rapid beating under control.

Percy didn't move though. He seemed frozen to the spot after his initial jump at the ghost's abrupt entrance. His eyes roamed the boy's blood and mud spattered, torn clothes.

" _Percy_ ," Colt hissed, feeling like a jerk for making him do this, but needing to do it anyway. "Ask him why he's here. We can figure out how to help him if we know."

"Why-" Percy's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Why are you here?"

"Percy Jackson. Warning." It was weird to actually hear words to go along with the boy's—Danny's—moving mouth.

"What is he talking about?" Percy asked Colt desperately, unable to take his gaze off the boy. He vaguely recognized him as one of the demigods who had died during the Second Titan War, but this made no sense. "He died in the Second Titan's War. Why is he here? Why now?"

"I'm not sure," Colt murmured, laying a comforting hand on Percy's back. She rubbed small circles on his back lightly for a moment before saying, "I think he needs to tell you something. If he tells you, it may put his soul to rest."

"Yeah," Percy said. He shook his head, straightening up in his seat. Colt's hand dropped from his back. She watched as he turned his "I'm the Leader" voice on. "What's your warning, Danny?"

"Percy Jackson," Danny croaked "Kronos has…a draken…need…Clarisse…to come… with the other Ares…children…only way…I must…warn you."

"You've warned me and I thank you for it," Percy told the young boy. "You have done your father Hermes proud in delivering this message. You helped us greatly."

Danny looked even younger and almost alive with the bright smile lighting up his face. "Thank you… Percy Jackson…for saving us."

Percy didn't say anything, just tipped his head with a watery smile.

By the time Colt tore her gaze away from the unusually vulnerable son of Poseidon, Danny had disappeared again, though Colt had a feeling deep in her gut that it was for the last time.

Colt leaned over, turning off the radio. The room was eerily silent without the static from the radio to fill it. Colt slipped her salt gun and crow bar back into her bag, leaving it in a lump under the coffee table. She turned to the unmoving boy at her side, gathering him into a hug.

"Who was he?" Colt asked after a bit. Her head was propped up against the back of his neck as she hugged him from the side as they continued to sit on the couch.

"Son of Hermes," Percy mumbled. "He was a scout who, on the way back to report, got caught in one of the battles and died, I think." He took a shuttering breath. "Why did he tell me this now? Why not earlier? Why at all?"

Colt contemplated carefully for a moment. "Well, I think he really believes in you and what you guys were fighting for, so he was going to deliver his warning to you in order to protect everyone he loved." She stroked Percy's hair. "As to why it took so long, sometimes it takes ghosts a while to build up the power to do small things like making the room cold or nudging a glass a centimeter to the left. I'd imagine it took him all this time to gain enough energy so he could deliver the warning and help save everyone."

"It's not fair." Percy said. "He shouldn't have died. None of them should have."

"Sh," Colt soothed because there was really nothing she could say to make this better.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N:**_ _I would call this more of a short epilogue than a chapter. It's much shorter than I usually write, but I felt that if I added more it would make it feel stretched out and boring. I'm actually quite happy with how this has come to a close, so I hope you enjoy it too. Let me know what monster you would like Percy and Colt to fight next. Please read and enjoy!_

Colt left the Jackson household several days after their final encounter with the ghost—no, with Danny, son of Hermes. Originally, the hunter hadn't planned to stay as long as she had, but if there was one thing she learned about Sally Jackson, it was that the woman got her way. Sally had wanted Colt and Percy to take a few days of rest before either of them went to do anything. It wasn't that big a deal for Colt. She hadn't even picked out a new hunt yet, so she used the extra time allotted (rather forcefully by Sally) to research strange occurrences, call Bobby, and spend some time with the Jackson family.

It was nice, but now Colt really needed to hit the road.

So she packed her bags into the trunk of her car after she hugged Sally and waved to Paul. Percy trailed out of the apartment behind her. The demigod hadn't spoken much since that night, but Colt hadn't expected him to. There were somethings you really just couldn't put words to. Maybe because there wasn't anything to really say? The entire thing had turned out pretty straightforward. Although, it had probably brought up memories from the first war Percy had fought in.

Colt was usually pretty good with people. As awkward a person she was in social situations, she could usually get some sort of vibe off people to tell her what they were feeling. It didn't work that well on Percy. He was unpredictable. His eyes clouded in a way that meant he was thinking deeply. It was just a matter on whether or not the storm would ever break free of his eyes. Colt couldn't tell if Percy would start crying or ferociously attack. She had a feeling Percy didn't know the answer to that either. If it had been Dean, she would've just pushed him to Bobby or even Sam, but this wasn't Dean. It was Percy.

Colt leaned against the driver's side door of her car, shoving a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She knew it was really just a lost cause since her hair did what it wanted, but she always had some hope that it would do what she wanted it to for once.

Percy braced his arms on the roof of the car next to her looking out over the line of vehicles. He looked coiled in a sort of lounging position, like he was straining his own muscles to relax. Colt felt a small pang of something. Guilt? Sadness? She wasn't quite sure. This hunt hadn't gone the way she planned it to—it rarely did. However, this case in particular had left the demigod beside her in a battle of inner turmoil. It bothered her that Percy couldn't be relaxed near her. Realistically, she knew it didn't have anything to do with _her_ , just the situation.

"What are you going to do while I'm off causing havoc?" Colt asked, lightly bumping into Percy. She tried to make it quiet and light, giving him the options of ignoring or responding as a joke, but the question ended up coming out a little less funny and a little more concerned.

Colt had begun to think that Percy was going to take the ignoring option until he finally said, "Back to Camp."

Colt nodded, turning to face the demigod. "Need a ride?"


End file.
